Esperanza is Spanish for hope, and one person whose presence has brought hope to Hispanic immigrants in Delaware’s poultry processing plants is Rosa álvarez. A Carmelite Sister of Charity who is herself an immigrant—from Spain, years ago—she is one of the founders of a commu

From 2003. Important steps for implementing an intercultural vision in parishes.

Two summers ago I passed through the entrance gate to the camp at Auschwitz in Poland and read the chilling phrase, “Arbeit Macht Frei” (Work Makes You Free). I wandered the now still streets of that concentration camp viewing the scuffed, unclaimed luggage, some marked with its owner&rs

Growing up Catholic in the 1950’s, my first understanding of the term mission centered around pagan babies, milk-carton penny collections and stories of religious in full habit harvesting souls abroad. Only later did I discover that the term included Home Missions in the United States.These mi

A gleaming new, state-of-the-art building in a poor section of the South Bronx? One, moreover, that houses free services for local residents? A rarity indeed, and yet there it was: the Mercy Center (www.mercycenterbronx.org), facing me as I turned onto 145th Street for a late afternoon visit. Two Si

Vatican Says Same-Sex Unions Are Harmful to Society’Amid increasing worldwide initiatives to grant legal recognition to same-sex unions, the Vatican called on lawmakers to offer clear and emphatic opposition to such measures, which it said were contrary to human nature and ultimately harmful t

A draft constitution for the European Union was presented at a summit meeting in Greece on June 20. The debate over whether the constitution should include references to religion has raised fundamental questions about European identity. Despite the trans-Atlantic acrimony of recent months, the 105 m

Several years ago when I visited the shrine and retreat house of the Valley Missionary Program in Coachella Valley Calif I knew that something exceedingly unusual had happened Out in the Mojave Desert economically disadvantaged Mexican immigrants had built a stunningly beautiful spirituality c

Over the last two months, thousands of Pakistani immigrants have abandoned their U.S. homes to seek refuge in Canada. Most wait fearfully in shelters and motels in U.S. border cities for their refugee interviews in Canada. The Immigration and Naturalization Service has arrested others who may or may

Dioceses and Charities Hurt by Economic UncertaintyWhile Catholic Charities agencies are facing new demands for assistance, an April poll showed that nearly three-fourths of Catholics across the nation are hesitant to give more money to charity because of concerns about their own personal finances.